Frenchman’s As Good As I’ve Ever Seen Him – Pardew

Yohan Cabaye did not have a very good second half of the season, after he came back from that groin injury, and the French International struggled with the rest of our players, but Newcastle did avoid relegation, and that was a huge relief.

Yohan Cabaye – looked good in pre-season
But the 23 times capped French International has looked like his old self in pre-season, and when Yohan Cabaye is on song, Newcastle always play well – and he’s such an important player to the side at the moment.

Cabaye has been linked with Manchester United, Monaco and Paris Saint-Germaine this summer, and Alan Pardew still seems concerned in case a huge bid comes in for the Frenchman late in this transfer window:

“You’ve got to be on your guard. You’re always vulnerable to a top, top club coming in and blowing us out of the water. We’re keeping our eyes on everything.

“We’ve got some very good players here, and that’s what I think some of our fans should focus on a little bit.” “We’ve got Sissoko – who’s had five months in the division and will be better for it – and we’ve got Cabaye, who’s as good as I’ve ever seen him.

“Papiss looks really well now, now he’s had that training. We’ve got Mapou, Colo and Tayls. We’ve got two great goalies and an Italian international full-back in Santon.”

It seems there that Alan is trying to convince himself we have a good squad, but the truth is we have – and apart from striker, we’re in very good shape in every other position.

And even after all the travails and frustrations of this summer, if Joe Kinnear can get Bafe Gomis through the door in the next couple of weeks, we’ll have an excellent squad – and Newcastle should do very well next season.

It’s a difficult time right now for Newcastle fans – no doubt about that – but let’s keep the faith.

But we need that top striker through the door first – over to you Joe.

“you’re always vulnerable” as in “we’re always vulnerable”. for the copious amount of hours the past few years he’s spent spewing lies and garbage at us via journos, could he not have spent that time better? say, coaching our players, or learning how to coach in the modern age?

Dont get me wrong alan shearer was a fantastic player in his day .
But as a pundit and a personality hes is a crock .
T man has no personality and really needs to shut up .his comments are not helping t situation

erm…he should come out in the press and say well we have no chance of winning against city so theres no point in trying should he ?

ofc he gonna bs us and the players its called motivation ! if we scream our team on it makes our players play better and puts city players off and same with the players if they believe they can win then there chances go up against someone who’s told you’ll never win so no point trying.

I used to post regularly on here but then it just got too full of pessimists with a serious case of confirmation bias.

Sometimes I wonder just what people want. We were related not so long ago and now have the basis of an incredible squad on a shoe-string and a good financial set-up when we were on the brink of collapse.

Yeah we should right off Remy because lo and behold he’s injured. Cause that never happens in football. Bale is injured too – I wonder if Real Madrid will just drop the bid then. What’s the point if he’s crocked.

I completely agree. I see gradual progression that hopefully will see us be able to challenge the top 4 again. And I see lots of fans on here with rose-tinted glasses about the past (KK with his maverick style and financial backing and SBR being just the world class manager that he was) while looking at out current situation with disdain.

I’m sure you agree that there have been unsavoury moments in the last few years but things could be worse…look at Leeds, Portsmouth, Blackburn and Wolves!

Sounds like Alan has been told he’s got all that he is getting!
We have a billionaire owner that likes to buy penny sweets at the sweet factory.
He wants to buy a Hogo Boss suit at a market stall
Get the cash out and get the players we need over the line.
Get rid of dead wood.
Remember if we get rid of Shola,Willo and Gosling then we only have Tayls and Sammy as the English men.

There’s no way in a million years we’ll challenge for the top 4 under Ashley like. I would put my house on that.
You need to spend big bucks season after season just to have a chance of finishing top 4. Something that Ashley will never ever do.

Morning spuggy
I apologies if my post came across as sarcasm. Its just that labelling people with a word is asking for abuse bud.
People have the right to voice there opinion how they see fit, Whether that be to follow the crowd or be of the minority. Just an observation that’s all mate !!

My comments are just observation too – about how others think and behave. If we are to debate, then I must consider the merits of an argument.

I’m not being personal and I don’t mind the abuse in truth, keyboard warriors don’t bother me in the slightest. I will speak my mind. I’m actually a reasonable and positive person if you got to know me. But I’m not going to sugar coat what I think – I’ve as much right as anyone to air my views.

im sorry spuggy but i can only agree to a point, if mike regularly reinvested money the club earns we would have a better team than we currently do.

but he dosnt, why you may ask?

we owe mike around £100 million, interest free granted but we still owe him £100 million so there is two ways he can claw his £100 million back which will be £20 million per season in include the debt in the selling fee. i think we have made 2 of these payments so far and it would have been 3 if not for our flirt with relegation last year. we have another 3 of these payments to go. then mike will have his cash back and he can sell the club for what it is actually worth, not the ridiculous £300 million he is asking for at present.

its a shame that the fans are having to pay for his inability to do due diligence and then to make a mockery of someone like kevin keegan which resulted in our relegation and him having to lend us cash to keep us running.

we are paying for his mistakes, i have no proof of this, the club claims that he is not taking money out of the club but the figures dont seem to add up especially considering what other clubs have been investing.

and besides how can you expect fans to be positive when the club itself is negative with its transfer activity, style of football and ludicrous staff appointments?

i have also seen nothing new from the team to indicate that the style of play has changed, we had great difficulty in breaking down rangers. we are snookered if remy and hatem dont shine because the way our team has been taught to play is unimaginative, defensive negative football. premiership defences such as the mighty norwich and fulham will laugh in our face.

Krull to be kind
Now that’s what I like to see-optimism a plenty. Keep it up pal and embrace the new season for what it is worth.
Mind you if we get slaughtered 5 or 6-0 come monday night the embracing will be proverbially thrown out of the window.

I appreciate your viewpoint and I agree with crazy decisions like kinnear, renaming the ground, KK fiasco etc.

But on a financial basis, I think MA is one of the most astute owner of a football club. This team has been brought together with incredible acumen in the transfer market. Most of our first team are worth more than double what we paid already and our balance sheet is looking healthy and gone are the days of mercenaries. MA can run the club as he’s sees fit, and it’s not like he’s not developing the squad, or investing, he’s just being sensible about it. Nowt wrong with that.

As concerns team performance – wait and see, preseason is no indicator. Look at the results of some of the top teams in preseason.

I’m going to get behind the team and hope for a great season – that means top 8 and some great performances and a good cup run. We have no divine right a top half team.

I really don’t think we should play 3 up top at City. We will be over run in Midfield with 4 players nevermind 3.

_______________Krul______________

Debuchy___Mbiwa___Collo____Dummett

__________Cabaye___Tiote__________

HBA_______________________Marveaux

__________Sissoko_________________

_______________Cisse_______________

Cabaye a deep lying play maker with Tiote covering the back four as much as possible. I think we should give Marveaux more of a chance but i also think Anita should be used more also. Not sure if his height is enough to play him instead of Tiote.

the players seem to think we have a devine right to be in the top 10, the management do to so its fair that fans would assume the same.

the reason why we are getting these players so cheap is because we are doing back door deals with players agents and then approaching the clubs, everyone does it but to say mike ashley is an astute owner when he will is flouting the laws of the game and the actual law in france. if we are doing this and get caught greame carr could end up in jail, the french have a law where if you try to take work out of france without following the correct format you go to prison. astute my arse.

is having a slave labour work force astute?
is getting mortal when trying to sell the club astute?
and with sports direct currently are taking the piss out of their staff contract wise is this astute behaviour?

he is not astute he is a greedy, evil man. that is how he has accumulated so much wealth.

Spuggy
I agree In what you say mostly. But 2 seasons ago I can remember sat in the stands reading the programme notes at the end of the season, And mashley was saying “what a superb season we had had The players-staff had all performed above all expectations and for that achievement we have European football to look forward to next season”.
“We realise that to move this club forward we have to invest within the structure of the club as the squad has not the depth to cope with the demands of Uefa football.
Now that was the time Spuggy to bring in some quality additions to Nufc and he did not apart from Anita.
He again stated that they will have learnt from the mistakes of last summer , and unless there in an influx of talent in the remainder of the window he will be doing just that.

if ashley knew about the debt before hand meaning if he had of done his homework and went about purchasing the club then he would have known about the debt wouldnt he and wouldnt have bought the club, he done a quick deal thinking he would make a nice tidy profit on the club on resale but this back fired when he found out about how much the club owed in transfers ect ect that is his fault alone no one elses, I support the players and the players only until ashley,pardew,kinnear are gone its as simple as that

Daztoon
Unless Mashley is willing to invest in the club then we can only go backwards. Yes we have the nucleus of an amazing squad, And the lads that came in January will be better prepared for the upcoming season. But if we are just to float around mid table season in season out with no ambition then can anybody blame our top players for wanting out !!

its no suprise ashley wants to buy out glasgow rangers he sees them as the better choice of clubs because of there fan base ect ect to me the sooner the moron does it the better as far as am concerned the man is cancer to the toon army sooner hes gone the better

All I’d like to see is NUFC spending 15m in every summer window, we would have a quality squad with that kind of outlay.

As for the ridiculous claim that Pardew isn’t worried about transfer because we did some of our business in January, yeah you’re right Alan, we did do some of our business in January, however the signings we made in January were last summer’s business!

We do have very good players at the club already, but why rest on our laurels? We should have nothing but good players at the club! If we signed quality on a consistent basis it would negate the fact that we have a shocking manager, and see us probably around the 8th mark.

For all those bloggers out there who feel that there is negativity within the fan base.Two years ago we were all talking about Champions league being achievable within 2 0r 3 seasons. Now fans are settling for 10th as being a good season.
That my friends is not acceptable, Why cant we want the best for Nufc and why should we just put up with mediocrity that the top bras push our way.Where is the £20 mill promised every season-Where is the ambition the owner promised when he first came aboard-how are the hierarchy learning from there mistakes when they constantly repeat them.
That’s where the frustration grows within the clubs fans as we all can see the shortfalls and nothing is done about it.

If we spent 15m every summer, with additional wages which would probably accompany those signings, even if we didnt make any Jan signings at all, we would still go bust. Have you seen the accounts over the past few years. That money simply is not there. We could do a freddie and buy on tick, then almost destroy the club and do a runner?

Black and White
IT just does my head in mate the way we are being run and people except it.
At the beginning of the summer we bid 13mill was it for Pea and it was confirmed by all parties.There was talk of de jong coming and tentative talks with Sackho took place.And everyone was upbeat thinking “Hey we gonna have a mint summer of transfer activity”
WRONG its the same old same old again to the point that even bent is turning us down.
.

i know the feeling mate, and with the PEA deal i’m sure i heard somewhere that he was very much interested coming to Newcastle BUT Newcastle didn’t even approach him that’s why he went to Germany because he was sick of waiting

everybody keeps asking’ why is ash doing this , why is ash doing that, why hasnt he bought ? ashley hates us its as simple as that. Us fans dont exist. he dosnt look at us as his customers. the only thing that matters to him is to finance SD as best he can with minimal outlay. he will never put NUFC first , he will never allow us fans to be happy . that is why no one has come through the door . all this ‘ hard work to bring players in ?’ cmon man , he dosnt want to- that costs money- that money could be pumped into SD thats how it will be untill he has gone

There seem to be far too many accountants on the site with access to all our financial details. This must surely be a big worry to MA and the board.

For any team in the Prem not able to spend 15m a season on transfers or they would go bust would say to me they are not a prem team.

Presently there IS a lack of investment, the squad is thinner than Shearers hair and too go up against an all star team on Monday with exactly the same team we ad last season is a worry.

The Stoke chairman has said with the higher TV revenue this season he is able to not only buy players etc he is also able to give back to the fans. He is laying on free coaches to all their away games.

Haha yeah mate got out of bed the wrong side this morning plus I was stuck in a bloody traffic jam when I read that post so not in the best moods to yet again hear Pardew talking about ‘Big’ club being able to blow us out of the water

Your correct about Pardew did we not win the last 3 games scoring 10 conceding 0 surly the record of a great manager, and he has such a successful record we should go on to dominate world football. wonder how long it will be before we sign players on 0 hours contracts.

pPrdew can’t seriously be happy going into the season with only one loan signing, we needed realistacly 3-4 players seeing as we barely survived last season and were leaking goals left right and centre and didn’t threaten on the attack at all
And if players like Darren Bent are choosing clubs like Fulham over a club as big Newcastle then the fans should be seriously worried

it’s funny how Ashly lowered the club turnover increased the debt, yet is doing such a good job. seems our accounting clowns don’t understand accountancy. because they don’t understand football, for those clowns its keep the ball out of your own net while putting it in the net of the opposition. you get no points for the books, if you did we would get none for the too.

Matty
Too right mate
Take our pre season for example, far too many saying oh well it’s just a little jog out to get some fitness levels up
What a crock of sh*t
Nearly every PL team has played I mini tournament/cup with a suitable level of competition, and nearly every PL club has played another PL club to instill a level of competition
We played some sh*te teams who have managed to make us look below average
The whole set up is a complete shambles!

The other painfully true comment from the SSN panelists was “the toon fans our probably just happy JK has spoken I a couple of weeks as it means there’s been at least 2 weeks where other fans haven’t been laughing at them”
Sigh

Stuartno9
hahaha sorry mate “PARDEW OUT” is that better.
JB afternoon bud-I think everybody is just fed up with the drivel he spouts day in day out.Like you said earlier I don’t see other manager in the PL every pre season coming out and saying if a bid comes in for a player we will struggle to turn it down. And as for not being even to spend £15 mill every transfer window otherwise we will go bust-Do me a favour.
I cannot for the life of me understand how people still stick up for the regime when they show such contempt towards the club

jack butler —– maybe the 40m has been sent to india so that the companies who use children as slaves to work 15 hours a day in dungeons with minimum sleep and food to produce his tacky goods , can buy more rice to feed the misarble mites who suffer every minute of every hour of every day to line ashlys fat pockets . disgrace — never buy from SD

just laughed at that last bit. but, it’s all you can do, really. there’s fatman’s perspective that books don’t buy points, and its true- to an extent- and then there are the WU grads who descend on this blog for one reason or another whose elevated level of understanding of business management and micro economics blurs their vision so faint that they’re just fine with watching s*** spatter all over the field week in, week out. Surely there is a happy median. Financially, there is no excuse to not be spending on a player here or there with an annual expenditure on new playing staff of say 10-15mil, even 20. the jnr accountants will no doubt point to the january transfer window, but we all know that should have been spent the preceding summer and it simply proved further revetment to the belief that our owner is happy for us to languish anywhere in the PL, so long as it’s in the PL. it’s just sad, is what it really is. I’m surprised some of our better players are still around right now. given, many have flaws that hinder them reaching a ‘world class’ status, and pardew does a damn fine job in exploiting those flaws, but don’t count on us being in the same situation we are in now with the next rung (that being a consistent top 7,8 side) so close in sight. these players will leave as they notice their careers are passing them by, and so too our one chance in the past ten years of having a team and brand of football to be proud of

Lads, I really don’t think we have a lot to worry about. I agree we can and should bring in another striker and a wide man but apart from that we are fairly strong. We have numerous options in most areas of the pitch but we do lack any width. Even when we have a full strength team out we have options on the bench. Also we have no European Football which will help our league form. I think with a little luck and one or two signings we could finish around 8th and at the lowest 14th. Fingers crossed and plenty tears this coming season which is one of the most anticipated IMO. HWTL!!!

The new TV deal is worth around an extra £25 million a season to the club that finishes bottom of the league, so if we finish around the same position this season it would see us pick up around an additional 30-35 million, plus the Wonga deal is reported to be worth around 6 million a year

Also on Eric Pieters, he was injured for most of last season but on his first game back from injury he got sent off. He was then went down to the changing room and in anger punched a wall but in the process damaging his arm too. He then only played 1 game for PSV since then.
Now hes at Stoke.

As I understand it everyone is paid that money at the end of the year as the money increases the more live games are shown. With the Wonga deal it will depend on how it has been structured, we could get the money at the start of the season or at the end. Either way we are guaranteed to get that money so I can’t understand why we have only brought in a single loan signing while Swansea, Norwich etc etc are all out there doing business and improving their squads

Jesper-Afternoon mate
Mashley has made £550 million alone over the last year. Do you not think he would be able to afford to give us sufficient funds to be able to compete on all fronts,Knowing he is 100% going to get that money back at the end of the season from the tv deal.
Just a thought pal

If Carr has players on his list that are underwhelming it’s simply becuase of the budget he is forced to work to, to be fair to the man he’s found more than a few gem’s at the bottom of the barrel where he’s forced to operate

To be totally honest with you mate, I never expect us to make more than one signing this window as Llambias came out in January and said that because of our poor league position the club had accelerated it’s transfer policy so any money we had for this window was spent back in January.

We only need another two or maybe three players in my opinion to complete our squad………………(and a new manager)

Extra points for mignolet in the dream team-Happy days.
Jesper
That is probably true bud, But what I am saying is that if Ashley had (AMBITION) what would 30-40 million be worth to him when he has an estimated fortune of over 2 billion, to be able to give to carr and say “right go out and spend on who you think can push nufc to the next level”

Thought that liverpool game was a belter, Liverpool could easily make top 4, beautiful match shame the second half didnt finish like the first. Really like Mignolet mind you fantastic keeper as is Begavic, hopefully this Swansea game is a belter later on!

But MA don’t have this aspirations for Newcastle; he bought the club because he thought it would be cool to owne a football club and bacause he thought it would be easy money. The financial times were great back then, but it all crashed just after he bought Newcastle!

The thing about MA is he doesn’t forget well; he doesn’t forfet we don’t like him and he never comes around anymore! He is not going to spend money on us…not a dime of his own money!

JackButler@138
Agree it would make a difference with a good new manager, but who’s going to get our goals if Remy and Cisse are injured? Let’s be honest we NEED signings we were nearly relegated if that isn’t reason enough to strengthen what is?

Might not be the right thing to say but I like Di Canio and wish he was in charge of our squad, shaking the place up a bit. He does everything with the right intention, and sees no ceiling to how far his team can go. No Excuses from Paulo.

Jack…….
I agree we’re a wasted squad under Pardew. We had Cisse fit but if we hadn’t had BA and his goals first half of last season we would have been relegated no question about it.
Its not just Pardew we’re a unfit lackluster squad.

The squad was totally unfit and as a consequence we suffer horrendous injuries all because Pardew failed at every turn to prepare the players for last season. The majority of injuries were picked up on the training ground which shows that their conditioning was so low all proven by Jonas comments that there was no intensity in training.
When players openly complain about how the manager goes about his job it answers a lot of question as to why we struggled so much lets not forget that he brought HBA back early from a hamstring injury to play in sub zero temperatures on a plastic pitch.

They keep trying to set us up as this tiny little minnow who’s lucky to even be in this league. If we are in as bad financial state as they keep saying, after this seasons tv money especially, then what the hell have they been spending on?!?!

I watched the Lpool game vs stoke. The reds looked good but still lack killer instinct but stoke were almost unrecognisable! Barely a long ball, credit to Hughes because they played well in patches but enough to be called a football team not a right team!
Makes you wonder what a Poyet, Benitez, Jol, Martinez even dare I say it a Hughes could do with us after Pards one dimensional play.

I like Pards for his man management skills but we have become very defensive but every sound coming from his been importance on attack so maybe we might see a change. I won’t judge after Monday night but I will be looking for positives to take from it.

If Gomis rumour is true would be a step in the right direction
Would only need a medical as everything else has already been agreed
Plus he is one who has been in the A list and not a panic buy
A left winger in and we will be ready for the new season
HWTL

Di Canio hopefully he lives upto his song and takes the mackems down
Wouldn’t think anyone at any other club would touch him with a barge pole
Think if Pardew was to be replaced should try for Zola who did well at Watford playing some decent stuff
Hope we get off to a good start to build some momentum
Can’t believe the club have sent me an extra season ticket for the same seat MASHLEY won’t be impressed

Would love us to pass and move like Arsenal, they’ve got so much energy. I hate watching us slowly lumber about. Having watched a bit of football now I’m looking forward to Monday, I’m praying we don’t embarrass ourselves again though!

We can only post about what is happening everyday at the club, we are not making things up just to have something to say.

I love this club and have done all my life so when I see what is currently happening to it, it pi**es me off and I vent my anger and frustration. I’m not asking or demanding anything else other than to see good football being played and the fans being treated in the right way

Gonna say I will take a 17th place finish only if we win a domestic cup. No trophy in the cabinet and I want at least a push for the top 8. Some may think I’m being optimistic. I’ll just call it ambitious. HWTL

well if being miserable until things change is what you call supporting a team then you are not the type of supporter that belongs to Newcastle go and support Manchester united like the rest of them glory hunters Newcastle supporters are supporters always will to support positive no matter what the state is why else did we have such a massive stadium capaicity in the championship compared to the rest.

In fairness we should go for it in the cups and the league position but I will take a 17 th place finish if we are I the F.A cup final with realistic chance of winning, in fact forget the 17th finish we are definitely better than that, I’ll say top half of the table and a cup final.

toonfan
the way you see us is just the same way I do.
we are a team who’s premier league position is 7th-10th and last season we might have finished below that but the difference was no more than a win from being top 10.

the way we should be aiming for Europe is FA cup or league cup the premier league is nothing more than an income of money we are never going to match united or Liverpool because they have such a great history and Chelsea and city due to the money and spurs and arsenal because they are able to pay wages plus they are London.

He stood head and shoulders above everyone in the FA Cup final, he’s a very, very good player but seriously needs to work on his temperament and be coached to take these stupid challenges out of his game

2 Goal tino
Markaccus-Afternoon lads. I had a lot of respect for Martinez and Whealen because they have always come across in the right manner until that challenge on Hadaira.
It was a shocking challenge, And could have been a career ending injury. I understand the board standing by there players but in this instance Martinez and Whealan were bang out of order

Acceptance of the dross which we are weekly served up is a bit like Lemmings off a cliff, or Pied Piper Pardew with everyone dancing to his propoganda he spouts. This goes higher another level to Ashley as well (two, if you count JFK).

Telling us we’re better off not being in Europe is just one of the list of the frankly diabolical things which the management comes out with.

If that alone doesn’t represent the lack of ambition, then there is a pile of other statements which are aimed at lowering expectation. For me and thousands of others, that is simply not acceptable.

So yes, the more nonsense the prat comes out with, the more it will be highlighted.

We could talk about the great interlinking of players and positive play… but oh, he doesn’t advocate that, so we can’t talk about it. Just the one off magic moments which scrape us a point which Pardew will have you believe we have battled for. When in reality we have made hard work of poor opposition.

Jb
I think we have pretty much exhausted the French market but Thaurvin would be an excellent addition to the squad. But again that’s just wishfull thinking on my behalf.
Forgot to mention the other night, Some lovely ladies use to take me up to a place called mumbles bay(is that right) when we use to stay over working at the weekends.
Just thought I would get that one in why the missus is out lol

Thaurvin would be one hell of an addition, but totally agree that we need to be looking outside of France now as we’ve been rumbled, Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic, Belgium are all places we need to explore.

I used to go to Mumbles with all my mates, they used to have a thing known as the Mumbles mile where you had to have half a pint in every pub………………..never made it past half way

Same old Toon. No decision makers. Yes we need another striker but Pards says we arn’t in a position to compete financially. Hence lost Wolfswinkel to Norwich & Bony to Swansea. Both bigger clubs? It’s a nonsense. WE don’t want to have to pay over the odds but we must be prepared to pay the going rate!! Don’t just need another CF also need another CB & FB. Season hasn’t started for us yet but already taling injuries to Santon & Saylor. Squad not strong enough to cover for injuries & suspensions.Need to offload Willo, Gosling & Obertan but nobody will take them. So more panic buying at Christmas? It’s a f …ing joke!

There is another club I don’t understand-Arsenal.
They have just paid the stadium off and have a transfer kitty of £70million and yet have spent jack with only 2 wk left.
Right you are in Pardew’s position as the Newcastle manager and Mashley gives you a war chest of £70 million pounds. Who do you go out and buy???.

There were people moaning when we were challenging for the league under Keagan and Robson. Ginola is lazy. Robert doesn’t track back enough, Dyer doesn’t care enough. Bellamy should shut his mouth, Shearer shouldn’t get an automatic start. How dare he sell Cole. The manager doesn’t know how to use his subs, adapt his tactics. Defender1, Defender2… Defender99 can’t defend. We offer too much for players and get ripped off. We offer too little for players. Speed is too old, Lee is too old. Bobby is too old. Why did he let Milner go out on loan? Having no youth team is a disaster. Keagen doesn’t know how to organise a defence. We haven’t replaced Ferdinand, Asprilla, Ferguson….

Hello everyone, this is my first post on here so I’ll try and keep it short-ish.

I’m aware that there is a lot of negativity on here and a lot of people are taking exception to it, so I’m going to try not to add to it too much But to be fair, in my opinion I think it’s difficult to be optimistic at the minute when we’re having to listen to Pardew coming out with different statements virtually every time he opens his mouth to a journo.

I personally would have accepted it (maybe even respected him….!) if he’d just told us from the start that there’d be no new signings in the summer. It’s not our fault that he seems to be going back on it.

Anyways, I’m hoping for a better season than last year…there’s my bit of positivity for today

jazzyp
their you see is the perfect evince why blaming pardew for our team is just crazy. arsene was astonishing with his team back at the start of this century but ever since that stadium was built they have turned into disaster no longer is it winning the league that is their aim no their aim now is 4th but this is the very same manager as who it was that did very good at the start of the century.
the difference with him is now he is always loosing his decent players vanpersie fabragas henry but what is not happening is he is not getting replacements in other words not getting backed.

pardew is having the very trouble himself carroll sold not replaced ba sold not replaced Jonas aging not replacements saylor injury prone no one brought until last January.

then comes the british media and unless you are called harry rednapp you will always be put into pressure from them.

1round so far: scums are still shite.. i really think that arsenal have bigger problems than us, they are actually shite.. villa seems to have something going on there.. now i waiting for a swansea victory, why is Bony on the bench??????? And please: can we buy some more players?? ok?? ok

I’m staggered that people can simply ignore players coming into the club that don’t suit their view of Ashley. Apparantly, now Remy is not a valid signing because he is on loan/had a minor calf injury. Really? The guy is costing us around £7m by all accounts, and if we have the clause to make it permanent if his legal problems are sorted out, then we are committed to £20m or more.

So Ricky Van Wolfswinkle dubbed not good enough for the prem, bound to flop etc has marked his PL debut with a goal and a MOTM performance!
To many mini accountants seem to think that missing out on a confirmed target seems to mean we pulled out if the deal because the player is not good and not because the club are grossly incompetent when it comes to doing business

Arsenal haven’t had good starts for the last few season, still think he’ll get them up there and may even spend a bit before the end of the month, but yeah you are right mate as much as I hate to say it Liverpool are looking good, amazing what a bit of ambition can do for a club eh !!!

The money is there, we are choosing not to spend it, I won’t keep having this conversation over and over. Yes I’ve been through the accounts, quite meticulously since 2005, it debunks the belief that without MA we would have went into administration, granted we made hefty losses the few seasons before being bought over, and the few season after, due to the consequences of ill thought out expenditure through players’ wages and high transfer fees, but I refute that we’d have went bust.

The accounts also show that we’re in a healthier position now, (thanks Mike, what I’ve always wanted) but what is the point of being in a better financial position if we don’t use it as a platform for growth on the pitch?

TDS
evening bud
It didn’t come from the tabloids, It came from Gazidis himself mate.
He has come out and said that transfer restrictions have been lifted and the coffers are open.Signing players for 20mill plus are not a problem no more for arsenal.
Be nice if Mashley could come out and say that about the toon pal.

I disagree. There was a lot of rumbling last season about Wenger. Having brought in no-one so far in the window (what’s that you say, surely Newcastle are the only team who have problems with getting people “over the line”), Wenger is now under massive pressure. Arsenal fans don’t have infinite patience.

JB
I think if you look at Chelsea and city squads, They look in better shape than man utd.
I’ll tell you what Wanyama was a big miss,Watch match of the day and tell me we made a massive mistake on not going for this guy

a friend of mine told me now that we cant sign any player from the PL because the first round have started. so if they have played they are banned for the season.. hahahaha what a retard.. man utd supporter.. wow

Ah sorry, I never saw that. Though coming out and telling the world that you’ve got loads of money to throw around can’t make it easy to buy players haha. I bet the minute he said that, the prices other clubs asked for shot up.

Can’t say I disagree with you on the top 2, I’m not sure about Arsenal, think they could fall outside the top 4, and I really think both Spurs and Liverpool are in a great position to really tackle the top 4, could be an exciting fight at the top of the table this season.

We know the difficulty of replacing strikers generally, and particularly when Carroll left on the last day of the window. And we tried everything to get Remy in last January to replace Ba immediately, when they couldn’t they brought in Gouffran and Sissoko to try to strengthen up front.

Best got replaced by Cisse.

Lovenkrands was very low down the pecking order as a striker when he was bought, behind Viduka, Owens, Martins, Shola etc. He got some games due to injuries and when most of those forwards left when we got relegated. He played more as left wing when we came back into the EPL. Not an EPL-level striker that we have missed. My recollection in all the ins and outs was that we replaced him with HBA?

Ranger!? When was he a recognised EPL level striker? He only scored a couple of goals in the Championship and one in the League Cup after we got promoted as far as I remember. If he wasn’t such a knob then he would have gone out on loan/been sold, and probably never come back. If we are looking at him as “young development striker with future potential” (and that would be generous) then he has been replaced in that role by Campbell.

I think Liverpool can push the top 4 even without Suarez, especially if they sign Willian. I see what you’re saying about Arsenal, but I think they’ve failed this big test in this summer window, they claimed they had money to spend, lifted expectations and so far failed to sign anyone.

Their back 4 is shaky, have no real fire power up front, and the atmosphere will get increasingly hostile in the Emirates if they don’t sign anyone and perhaps slip behind in the title race early doors.

Just think there is an added dynamic this season that we haven’t really seen in recent years.

I think Liverpool will have the same issues as Swansea had under Rodgers, in that they will become very one dimensional, yes they’ll play great looking football but Rodger has never had a plan ‘B’ to fall back on, this was the biggest gripe the Swans fans I know had with him.

I think that after today’s result we’ll see a few new faces at Arsenal and he’ll go on to prove everyone wrong again

The longer Wenger goes on without winning anything the more tenuous his position. If the supporters lose confidence in him, he will go. He only just managed to get a CL position last year, they were hardly convincing against us last day of the season. If they go out in the early stages and they fall behind Spurs and Liverpool in the EPL, then past glories won’t save him.

A story which looks to have emerged from over the border suggests that Mike Ashley is set to increase his stake in Rangers into full ownership of the Ibrox club – using the proceeds of his sale of Newcastle United.

And fter previous claims of interest from Asian, Russian and Arab-based investors, the rumoured purchasers of United this time round are from the USA.

Arsenal need a potent 20+ striker, if they get that, I think they”’ manage top 4 and maybe even more than that, without one though, I can see a season of struggle for them (relative struggle of course)

I know what you mean about Rodgers, last season with Liverpool I remember watching their game against West Ham and Reading, both games they drew nil nil, they totally dominated each team but when the initial plan didn’t work they had little to fall back on, which is quite the same problem Wenger has with Arsenal.

However, I think Liverpool have a more accomplished squad this season, capable of executing the Plan A much more effectively than last season, if they sign Willian, and maybe another defender, Rodgers may not have to worry about a Plan B, as Plan A will be pretty hard to stop haha

To be honest mate I was hoping that both Bale and Suarez were sold earlier in the window as that would have set off some really interesting deal’s.

In truth though it goes against every fibre of my being to say that Liverpool will be top four this season, so Arsenal are my choice and I’m sticking with it and will not be swayed with common sence comments from anyone

My biggest concern over Arsenal’s result would be if it meant they stepped up with a big offer for Krul. They have money to spend, and a replacement keeper could be bumped up their list of priorities with Koscielny sent off?

Don’t worry, I’m used to disagreeing with people who refuse to listen to common sense (joking lad) haha

I think Liverpool may fall just short of the top 4, and it will once again be between Spurs and Arsenal to finish inside the top 4, I just think Liverpool will have more of a say in proceedings this season.

potski
strikers that have left the club in the pardew era best, loven, ranger, carroll and ba
strikers that have came into the club ba and cisse remy is just on loan so QPR can take him back if they choose.
last summer we were in Europe who were the forwards ba cisse and ameobi then ba gets sold but who comes no one.
why else does pardew get so much critics for playing shola if we have other strikers.

Being run on a very tight budget, paying very low wages in comparison to most of the league and yet they finish above us in their first season in the league and manager to do something that we have done in decade’s.

Being run on a very tight budget, paying very low wages in comparison to most of the league and yet they finish above us in their second season in the league and manage to do something that we have not done in decade’s.

Routledge played on the right in the second half of the season after his transfer to us from QPR, Guti played on the left throughout that season

Routledge was very quick and did well as a winger – few FB’s in the Championship could cope with his pace. He also liked to drift inside and make runs from behind the strikers. Got clean through on keepers a number of times, but I don’t remember him scoring any of them.

He scored 3 including a worldy volley from outside the area in one game, plus 7 assists. So a good return, but it was not clear whether he was good enough when we got promoted – he had never impressed for Spurs, Villa, Palace, Fulham. Seven seasons in the EPL earlier in his career for an underwhelming 1 one goal, and 14 assists, with 10 of those coming in one season.

When Barton returned from injury Routledge lost his regular place in our starting 11 on right, and then decided to go on loan to QPR, then transfer to Swansea to get games.. Having got only one assist in 19 in the prem for us no-one was sad to see him leave. And there was alot of raised eyebrows when Swansea bought him and played him as a forward. 73 appearances for them, only 7 goals.

If Rooney wasn’t looking out of the club then I’d have thought he’d have started, but Welbeck is a dreadful player, shouldn’t be anywhere near the squad, let alone the first XI, and if he wasn’t English, he wouldn’t be.

Hernandez is the perfect poaching striker, and Kagawa is just a genius. Perhaps Man U’s squad isn’t that bad after all haha

Every Newcastle fan would love to see us play football the way Swansea do and we all dream of actually winning something so for anyone to be critical of them when we’d all love to emulate then is baffling imo

We had a PL squad when we got relegated, we got promoted as a PL squad! There is no comparison with the squad we had following promotion and the likes of Hull, Reading, Crystal Palace etc, we’re Newcastle United for crying out loud.

potski
strikers that have left the club in the pardew era best, loven, ranger, carroll and ba
strikers that have came into the club ba and cisse remy is just on loan so QPR can take him back if they choose.

No they can’t. We have a contract with QPR which will set out how/when/if he can go back to his home club. That contract is registered with the FA, so that Newcastle holds his registration during the time of the contract. QPR can’t play him, only Newcastle can. And you are not allowed to have contracts which start/end outside of the transfer windows.

The earliest the loan can finish is January, so until 1st January 2014 at least he is our player, and I understood it is a one year deal, so he is ours until 1st June 2014.

No details of the loan agreement have been issued that I have seen, but everyone expects that we have a clause where we can opt to take him permanently, either in January or next summer, if the threat of getting charged for rape disappears. If that is the case, then the contract means that QPR can’t even decide to have him back next summer if they get promoted straight back to the prem.. They can only have him back if he is very disappointing and we don’t want to make it permanent.

Remy is a “proper” signing. We are spending about £7m for him, and that will probably increase to £20m if he signs permanently.

In honor of two dedicated Newcastle fans, who lost their lives supporting Newcastle United, when their passenger jet was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday July 17th, 2014 by rebels, as they were traveling to support the team in New Zealand.

We will never forget them.

Fantasy League

Mark Harding has again set up the Fantasy League for our readers for this season.

The new code is 3641-1656 and people can set up the league here:

http://fantasy.premierleague.com

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Health Update - 4 Feb, 2015

I had another battery of medical tests early last week, and the results show my PSA count as undetectable, which means the prostate cancer is still under control, and there is no trace of cancer in the body.

I'm very pleased about that!

Ed Harrison

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What Is A Football Club?

“What is a club in any case?"

“Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it.

It’s not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes."

“It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city."

“It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love.”